


Invincible

by orphan_account



Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-22
Updated: 2014-09-22
Packaged: 2018-02-18 08:49:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,267
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2342396
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Lin never wanted children.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Invincible

**Author's Note:**

  * For [rosabelle](https://archiveofourown.org/users/rosabelle/gifts).



Lin stands in the control room, listening to the soft thrum of the engine as they head back to Republic City. She isn’t needed here, or really anywhere right now. The battle is over, the Red Lotus is defeated, and the Avatar is safe.

And yet Lin can’t help but feel like a failure.

She was supposed to protect the Avatar. It was her job, her duty to make sure that nothing happened to Korra. The Red Lotus had gotten far too close, and if Lin had only done better, Korra would have been safe.

Despite the victory, everyone is subdued. The Avatar’s friends stand in a quiet group off to the side. Her father is nowhere to be seen; likely, he’s with her. She had said she was exhausted, when they’d finally boarded the airship, and that she only wanted to sleep. 

But Lin saw that look in her eyes, and it’s a look she’s seen in the eyes of countless young officers throughout the years. Even with all she’d endured, losing her bending and facing a Dark Avatar, some part of Korra had still thought she was invincible.

Losing that belief in your own immortality, Lin had found, was one of the hardest lessons to learn. But it was one that anyone who stood up, who risked their lives for others, was going to learn eventually.

Lin almost wishes Korra might have gone longer without it, though. But she quells that thought with a shake of her head. With one final glance around the control room, Lin leaves. There’s nothing she can do here anyway. Might as well see if she can do any good elsewhere. 

As she walks down the hallway, she closes her eyes, feeling the vibrations under her feet, the thrum of the metal. She remembers when she first learned earthbending from her mother, she’d been blindfolded. Her mother said it was important to feel the earth. She still takes comfort in it now. 

But there’s not time for silly dreams and reminisces of childhood. Spending all that time with Su must be making her sentimental. And she hates sentimentality. It only makes people slow, makes them useless, and weak. Lin stops in front of a door, and sighs. Well, it seems she's just as much of a fool as Su, because here she is.

She raps hard on the door, waiting for a response. When she doesn’t hear anything, she eases the door open, shutting it quietly behind her. Korra’s sleeping in the bed, and even asleep she still looks beyond tired, like she has all the cares of the world resting on her shoulders.

And so she does, and always has. Even when Lin thought she was just an annoying brat, she admired that dedication to her duty, even as she abhorred the careless arrogance behind it. But Korra's grown up, these last few years, and Lin has to admit, she's liking the woman she's becoming. 

Lin sits in the chair next to the bed, her sore muscles protesting. She's still in top shape, but she's not as young as she used to be. She looks Korra over, checking for any signs of waking, and when she sees none, turns and gives the door an assessing look. She made sure no one saw her, would die before she admitted she was worried. But she just needs to see, to make sure that the Avatar truly is okay. That Korra will be okay.

“Katara told me once that it comforts people who are hurt or ill, to hear those they care about talking to them while they sleep.”

Lin pauses, glancing back at the door again to make certain no one is near. She listens, but hears nothing, feels nothing through the floor.

“Of course, I thought, still think, it's a load of crap. Sleeping people can’t hear you, and they sure as hell aren’t going to care.” She snorts. “And I don’t think you’d care if even if it did matter. I’m just some broken down old woman, following you around and yelling at you. You probably wish I’d shut up." She gives a rueful laugh, sitting back in her chair. "I certainly would've, at your age."

Lin rests her hand on the quilt, carefully watching Korra’s face for any change.

“You know, I was like you once. Well, never quite so reckless. But I had someone to live up to, something to prove. And I thought, ‘I’m the daughter of Toph Beifong, the first metalbender. I can do anything.’ I had a chip on my shoulder and the talent to prove it.”

She sits back in the chair, tipping her head back and sighing.

“And you know what? I did great, at first. Amazing arrest record, and no one ever died on my watch, not even the criminals. I never even got a scratch.”

Except that one time, with Su, but Lin doesn't want to think about that, not now, because sometimes Korra reminds her a bit of Su, and Lin always worried that recklessness would get her hurt. She swallows, glances back at the door.

“But then one day, well. I got careless. Cocky. I thought I was invincible, but I wasn’t the only metalbender out there. Some nobody, just some gang member, he ripped my gear away, and I fell. I would’ve died, if my partner hadn’t caught me.”

Lin closes her eyes, remembering the terror of falling, and knowing there was nothing to catch her, no safety.

“I had nightmares for weeks, months. Still dream about it today. I’ve seen worse now, way worse. But that first time, the first time you really realize that you can die at any time. Well, it sticks with you. It’s hard to be brave when you know how vulnerable you are.”

Lin stands, pulls the sheets higher. Can’t have the Avatar catching a cold on top of all this, after all. She walks to the door, then spares one more glance back.

“I made it. Because I’m tough, and I know you’re tough too.” She smiles, almost fond. “And you’re stubborn as hell. You won’t let fear defeat you.”

She opens the door, leaves Korra to her rest. She shuts the door decisively behind her, and goes to look for some more work to do.

*

Back in Republic City, Lin looks at Korra across the hall at Jinora’s ceremony. Korra sits, quiet and hunched in her wheelchair, and there’s nothing in her eyes. She barely manages to acknowledge Tenzin’s offer, barely seems present at all. Tenzin told Lin that Korra is going home for a while, to rest and recuperate. Lin had said that she hadn’t thought the Avatar was such a coward.

Truthfully, she worries if retreat is the right option. This isn’t something to hide from, because it’s impossible, you can't run from death. But Tenzin, and Korra’s parents think it’s for the best. And Lin is hardly one to interfere. After all, she’d never wanted children. And she stands by that decision to this day. They're nothing but trouble, she’d seen that herself, again and again. 

And she'd certainly never want a kid like Korra.

As she watches Korra get wheeled out of the hall, still sad and broken, she wonders if Korra really will be okay. But Korra's made of tougher stuff than anyone knows, and she's too much of a brat to give up.

"You'll be back again soon, causing trouble and making my job more difficult," Lin says, though there's no one there to hear. She's finding she looks forward to that day.

**Author's Note:**

> Written entirely before season 4.


End file.
